The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-11-16
POPULAR SCIENCE.

The theory that some common mould
fungi, growing under certain conditions,
may originate diphtheria or transmit 1t,
is corroboratcd by recent cases reported.
The fastest time ever made by any ship
or boat, according to a scientific journal,
was twenty. eight miles per hour, this be-
ing the performance of an Italian twin
screw torpedo boat.
One of the subjects exciting much in
tcrest and discussion in the medical pro-
fession is that Of {" Base Ball Pitchers
Arm," the trouble in its severer forms in
volving muscles, ligaments, cartilages
and even the osseus tissues.
A rare fish, the opah or kingfsh, has
been caught off the Yorkshire coast. The
specimen measured four feet three inches
in length, and is said to he the most
beautiful in color and form of any fish
that inhabits the North Sea. The body
is blue and black and bronze, studded
with silver stars; the fins are vermillon,
and the iris of the eyes white. The fish
has been preserved and added to col
lection of natural history specimens at
Grimsby.
Lake Superior, our great fresh-water
inland sea, is almost in the very centre of
the Continent of North America, and is
375 miles long, $50 miles wide, its area
being about $4,000 square miles. lit
surface is COZ feet above mean tide as
New York, while of such depth that
much of the lake bottom is below the
ocean level, numerous United States sur
vey soundings of over one thousand feet
having been taken. Lake Huron is not
so deep in any point, and Lake Erie IS,
on in average, barely one hundred feet
deep.
When the first electric telegraph was
established, according to the British
postmaster general, th4 speed of trans
mission was from four to five words a
minute on the fve-needle instruments.
In 1S49 the average rate for number OF
newspaper messages was seventeen words
minute. The present pace of the cleo
trio telegraph between London and Dub
lin, where the Wheatstone automatic in
strument is employed, reaches 462 words
minute; and thus what was regarded
as miraculous sixty years ago has multi
piled hundred fold in one-half cen
tury.
1t swell understood that q cold sensa-
tion reaches consciousness more rapidly
than one of warmth. The exact time
required to per rceive each has lately been
measured by DR.. Coldscheider, of Bcr-
lin. Contact with cold point was felt
on the face after 31.5, on the arm after
1S, on the abdomen after q, and on the
knee after % hundredths of second.
From hot point the sensation was felt
on the same surface after 1927, 62 and
70 hundredths of q second, respectively.
This great time difference has an i'm.
portant bearing on the theory of skin
sensations.
When the first electric telegraph was
established, according to the British
Postma ter General, the speed of traus-
mission was from four to five words
minute on the fve-needle instruments.
In 1949 the average rate for number OF
newspaper messages was II words
minute. The present pace of the cleo
trio telegraph between London and Dub
lin, where the Wheatstone automatic in.
strument is employed, reaches 462 words
minute; and thus what was regarded
as miraculous sixty years ago has multi.
piled hundred fold in one half century.
An editorial in the Popular Science
Neus recites some of the curiosities OF
names of chemical compounds, which,
when their inappropriateness is consid-
cred, appear extremely ludicrous. Thus:
Oil of vitriol is no oil, neither are oil OF
turpentine and kerosene. Copperas is
an iron compound, and contains no cop
per. Salts of lemon is the extremely
poisonous oxalic acid. Carbolic acid is
not an acid, but an alcohol. Cobalt
contains none of that metal, but arsenic.
Soda water has no trace of soda, nor does
sulphuric ether contain any sulphur.
Sugar of lead has no sugar, cream of tar.
tar has nothing of cream, nor milk OF
lime any milk. Oxygen means the acid
maker; but hydrogen is the essential
element of all acids, and many contain
no oxygen. German silver contains no
silver, and blacklead no lead. Mosaic
gold is simply sulphide of tin. This
list might readily be extended, both in
chemistry and other natural sciences;
and it is only fair to state that these
terms all come from the older writers,
and have given way TO q more scientific
nomenclature.